Kettering, School Lane Central Methodist Chapel was built of brick in 1933, it had seating for 500 in pews in 1940. There were three schoolrooms and 14 other rooms. It remains in use as a Methodist place of worship.
This building resembles a school, telephone exchange, or other public building of the period rather than a place of worship. It may be contrasted with the conventional gothic of Cockermouth, Lorton Street (1932) or the contemporary take on Romanesque at Carlisle Currock Road (1936).
Sources
Methodist Chapel returns, 1940, p162
Site visit 31.3.2018
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On reading the given information it would have been good to have also seen some photographs of your present Church / Chapel Interior ?
Kettering, School Lane, Central Methodist Chapel was built by the Wesleyans to replace their Silver Street Chapel although it was not completed until after Methodist Union in 1933. It was built of brick with stone dressings in a loosely classical style widely used for public buildings of the period. There are pediments above the central projecting section of the façade and at each of the corners. The only decoration is in the panel above the doorway containing the date plaque. The chapel inherited the Silver Street school building which was conveniently situated on the opposite side of School Lane (more information about the school can be found on the Silver Street page). In 1941 the two buildings were described as a single entity and apart from the chapel itself it is not possible to say with any precision which rooms were on which site. The chapel itself measured 80 feet by 43 feet and seated 400 on the ground floor and 100 in a gallery which measured 19 feet by 32½. There were also three halls 60 feet by 29½ feet, 41½ feet by 24½ feet and 30½ feet by 18 feet and 14 vestries or classrooms. Later the school building passed out of Methodist occupancy and is now used by Bodyshapers Gym and Health Studios and Kettering Hydroponics but the chapel continues to be used as a Methodist place of worship.
Sources
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, DDPD1 Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940/687 (Kettering Circuit)
Site visit 7.7.2021
In 1940 the accommodation consisted of a chapel measuring 80 feet by 43 feet and containing 400 sittings on the floor plus 100 in the gallery, all in pews, three halls, 60 feet by 29½ feet, 41½ feet by 24½ feet and 30½ feet by 18 feet and fourteen vestries and classrooms. There were two blocks of buildings separated by a road. The chapel on the south side of School Lane continues to be used as a Methodist place of worship. The Sunday school building on the north side existed as early as 1884 and was probably originally used in conjunction with the Silver Street chapel.
Sources
John Rylands Library University of Manchester, DDPD1/687 Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940
25 inch OS Northamptonshire XXV 10
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